Fabric display device



s. l. BARROW 2,857,696

FABRIC DISPLAY DEVICE Filed se fi. 18, 1956 Oct. 28, 1958 INVENTOR. Sanmour LBarrow BY Maw ATTORNEY FABRIC DISPLAY DEVICE Seymour I. Barrow, Flushing, N. Y., assignor to United Merchants and Manufacturers, 1116., New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application September 18, 1956, Serial No. 610,609

Claims. (CI. 4011) This invention relates to means for displaying articles of merchandise in connection with the promotion and sale thereof, and more particularly, to means for displaying a piece of cloth, as for example, drapery, curtain or upholstery material, or the like, in the piece.

Heretofore, it has been the practice in the drapery, curtain and upholstery trades for customers to be shown a plurality of swatches or pieces of cloth of many different patterns by means of a table stand or podium upon which the salesman successively arranges each sample individually and separately. After one sample is shown, it is removed from the stand or table and its place is taken by the next piece of material. However esthetic this arrangement may be, it is laborious and time consuming, and very often the attention of the customer is lost or dis tracted during the intervals necessitated by the operation of removing one sample of fabric already inspected to make room on the stand or table for examination of the next one.

It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide means for facilitating the sale of goods and articles of the character referred to, especially lengths of cloth in the piece, whether they be of textile, plastic, or other origin. It is a further object of the invention to shorten the time required to satisfactorily present to each customer a full line of merchandise. It is a still further object to provide means for increasing the quantity of sales within whatever period of time a particular customer has available to examine and inspect such goods as he desires to purchase.

With the above and other objects in view, as will be apparent, this invention consists in the construction, combination, and arrangement of parts, all as hereinafter more fully described, claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a front view of hanger means according to one embodiment of the present invention for displaying fabrics of the type describe din a multi-fold arrangement,

or not, as may be desired, the said hanger means in-- eluding means for clampingly engaging'the folds of an upholstery, drapery or curtain cloth or the like at the bottom end of the hanger, and hook means at the top of the hanger for suspending both hanger and cloth, or a hanger along not loaded with cloth, from any suitable support;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the dotted lines 22 of Fig. 1 including oifset means made integral with the present hanger for uniting a plurality of clamping plates together to fashion a composite clamp-hanger;

Fig. 3 is another sectional view of a device according to the present invention taken along the dotted lines 3-3 of Fig. l, which illustrates how the hook portion or component may be united with the offset means for joining the clamping plates, and illustrating further how the offset may be fastened to the inner surface of one of said clamping plates;

Fig. 4 is a plan View, somewhat similar to that of Fig.

Patented Oct. 28, 1958 "ice 3, but illustrating the interior side or surface of the other clamping plate which does not carry hanger means for suspending the clamp from a support;

Fig. 5 is a front view of the device of Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive in which, for example, a multi-folded sample or swatch of drapery, curtain, or upholstery material having a pattern or design thereon is shown in clamping engagement with the hanger means whereby such fabric may be efiectively displayed to the customer for such merchandise. This view alsoshows panel means which may be made permanently integral with one of the clampthe salesman displays his wares.

As will be clear from the foregoing, according to the present invention it was desired to develop a means of supporting, for display purposes, a multi-folded piece of fabric from one end by means of a hanging device which would in turn be supported by a horizontal rod by means of a hook attached to the hanging device, and efiectu-ate automatic drape simulation.

The main requirements of the hanging device are:

(1) It must be able to accommodate thin or thick fabric.

(2) It must or many folds.

(3) It must have a positive grip on the fabric, so the fabric will not be unintentionally released from the device.

(4) It must be of minimum size, particularly thickness.

(5 It must be arranged so that a piece of folded fabric can readily be removed and another one be attached.

(6) The hook must be made so that it does not readily come oif the rod due to the removal of similar, closely adjacent hanging devices.

(7) It must provide space for an identifying name, permanently imprinted, and for a detachable identification card or tag. I

(8) It must be neat in appearance, to fulfill its display function.

(9)1t must be simple and cheap to manufacture.

With the foregoing purposes and objects in view, and as will also be apparent from an examination of the drawings heretofore described herein, according to one embodiment of the present invention a fabric display hanger is provided comprising an elongated clamp with an upwardly projecting and centrally disposed hook for suspending the same from a rod or other support. Specifically, the invention may comprise two separable but inter-fitting and co-acting hanger plates converging inwardly along their bottom edges so as to exert a clamping action on the fabric to be displayed and held thereby. The two plates may be fastened together as by means be able to accommodate fabric having few of spaced bolts passing through the side of one of the plates. The threaded ends of the bolts are screwed into an offset strip of metal fixed to the-inner surface of the other hanger plate, with the bolt heads emerging from the outer side of the first plate- The two plates may be separated, of course, by unscrewing the threaded ends of the bolts from the offset. The free end of the hook is given a reverse bend to provide a stop or keeper, thus preventing accidental displacement of the display hanger,

the fabric display device may include a clamp 10 and,

suspension means or curved hanger 11 united to the clamp 10 whereby the fabric to be displayed may be clampinglyv engaged within the jaws 12, 13 of the clamp 10, with the clamp 10 being suspended as by means of the hook 11 from any suitable support station or the like. If desired, a permanently imprinted panel portion 14 may be provided in the front plate 12 of the hanger 10 for displaying the trademark or trade name of the owner of the goods displayed, but, of course, this is a matter of choice and taste.

Referring to Figs. 2 and 3, it will be noted that the interior arrangement of the clamping plates 12, 13 making up the unitary clamp 10 is such as to include an off set strip 15 made integral with the front plate 12, which offset 15 is perforated as at its opposed ends to receive a plurality of screws or bolts 18 projecting toward the offset 15 from the back plate 13 of the display device 10. By reason of the offset member 15 which extends out beyond the inner surface 19 of the front plate 12 of the clamp 10, space is provided for holding a multi-folded sample of upholstery material or the like within the area or free space separating the two plates 12, 13.

On the other hand, to effect a clamping engagement of the fabric being displayed in the hanger 10, it is preferably desired to bend the lower edge portions 20, 21 of the front plate 12 and back plate 13, respectively, so that the two edges 20, 21 converge, or tend to converge, toward each other, it being understood, of course, that in practice there must be allowed a sufficient gap between the edge members 20, 21 to permit of the entrance of the ends of the material being displayed in the hanger device 10 of the present invention.

In addition to providing the front panel 14 in the plate 12 for displaying the owners trademark or the like, means may be provided, such as the spaced prongs 22, 23 projecting from back plate 13, whereby a card, label, or other identification may be detachably affixed, such as, for example, a style or pattern number of the fabric being displayed and held by the clamping jaws 20, 21 of the hanger 10. This, too, is a matter of choice, and if desired, may be dispensed with entirely.

As will be apparent from an examination of Fig. 4,

the present invention also apprehends means on the back plate 13 cooperating with the offset means 15 made integral with the front plate 12 for maintaining a clamping relation of the two plates 12, 13 and their convergent leading edges 20, 21, respectively. Such cooperating means in the plate 13 may consist of a pair of spaced apertures 24, 25 for receiving and accommodating the bolt or screw means 18. Bearings or washers 26 may also be employed and slipped over the threaded portions of the bolts 18 extending inwardly from the outer surface of the back plate 13 to the offset member 15 of the front plate 12.

For ease of manufacture and facility in assembling the component parts thereof the present fabric display device, as shown in Fig. 2, may consist of the front and back plates 12 and 13, cooperatively united as by means of the bolt 18, but with the arrangement being such as to preserve, at least in part, the original and separate identity of the two plates 12 and 13. More particularly, as will be seen in Fig. 2, the plates 12, 13 may each have an upper flange 27 and 28, respectively, in overlapping but spaced relation to each other. As will be understood, with this arrangement just described, not only is facility of assembly and ease of manufacture promoted, but in addition it is easier to disassemble the present device, the two plates 12, 13 being readily separable in view of the overlapping but unfixed, that is, separable relation between the two plates 12, 13.

In Fig. 6 is shown the present hanger display device 10 comprising front and back clamping members 12, 13

4 suspended as by means of the book 11, the hook being provided with a reverse twist 29 (Fig. at its inner end so as to prevent accidental dislodgement or displacement of the hanger and the material suspended therefrom. In addition, as shown in Fig. 5, the panel 14 in the front plate 12 is occupied by a printed legend comprising a trademark of the merchandiser whose wares are displayed in the hanger 10, the trademark ROOMAKER being accompanied by a word descriptive of the nature of the goods, the word being fabrics. This, of course, is a matter of choice, and any other descriptive matter or legend may be inserted in the front panel 14, or omitted. The cloth 30 to be displayed by the salesman or merchandiser is inserted within the clamps or plates 12, 13 of the hanger device 10, and as will be understood, the cloth 30 may include a texturized surface effect, or a Woven, knitted or printed pattern of any type and description according to the style, pattern, or dye color of the day. Preferably, the fabric 30 being displayed is made up into a plurality of folds before it is inserted in the clamping members 12, 13, as indicated by the several folds 32, 33 and 34 of the fabric 30 shown clampingly engaged by the plates 12, 13 of the hanger 10 illustrated in Fig. 6. It should be mentioned, perhaps, that the cutaway portions or free spaces 35, 36 indicated in Figs. 5 and 6 of the drawing are merely intended to indicate that the cloth 30 being displayed is normally of a length longer than that shown in these drawings so that these free spaces 35 and 36 are merely a convenient device for indicating that such is the case. Actually, of course, the length of the fabrics 30 may be of any dimension according to the type and character of the cloth being displayed in the clamp-hanger 10.

Referring now again to Fig. 6, it will be seen that the present fabric display hanger 10 may be suspended as by means of the curved hook 11 from any suitable horizontal support such as the bar or rod 37 having spaced apertures 38 along its length and adapted to pivot or swivel as by means of the pins 40, 41 inserted respectively in the top and bottom brackets 42, 43 of a wall support 44 or the like. The apertures 38 may, if desired, be employed by the salesman for suspending therefrom a plurality of the hangers 10, each hanger 10 displaying a different colored fabric having the same or a different pattern. Moreover, as will be understood, a plurality of individually distinct and separate rods or bars 37 perforated as at 38 for the purposes and objects described, may be mounted on the same wall support 44 so that a whole series of fabric display hangers 10 may be assembled together. By means of the swiveling apparatus 4043, each of the several display carrying rods 37 may be successively brought forward into the spotlight, so to speak, and when its exhibition has been concluded, may be pushed back into the position from which it came as by turning on its pivots 40, 41 in the brackets 42, 43 mounted on the wall or other support 44.

The hook 11 may be joined or fixed to the inside surface of the plate 12 as by means of spot-welding or any other suitable means and, if desired, the arrangement may be such as to include means for removing the hook 11 from the clamping device 12, 13. Furthermore, as previously indicated, the front panel 14 which, as stated, is adapted for carrying a trade mark and/or any other legend desired by the merchandiser, may be altogether omitted, or instead it may be put on the back plate 13 in place of the dogs or prongs 22, or in combination therewith, as may be considered feasible. It will also be realized that instead of having a .plurality of bolts 18 in spaced relation at the ends of the front and back plates 12, 13, it would be entirely practicable to substitute a single bolt perhaps medially of the length of the plates 12, 13. Another alternative, of course, would be to add to the bolts 18 indicated in Fig. 4 another bolt intermediate thereof, and, of course, the horizontal projecting bar or rod 37 might be eliminated and any other suitable support means for the hook 11 for suspending the display device might be substituted therefor. It may also be noted that instead of arranging the fabric to be displayed in folds before inserting it within the clamping members 12, 13, the cloth 30 may be thus engaged without any folds therein at all, or alternatively, only a single fold may be put into the material being shown. In the light of the foregoing, the following is claimed.

What is claimed is:

1. Fabric display device comprising a pair of clamping plates having overlapping upper flanges and convergent bottom edges, said upper flanges and bottom edges defining a free space for receiving therein the fabric to be displayed; an oifset member fixed medially of the inner surface of one of said clamping plates, and means projecting from the other of said clamping plates and in contact with the offset for clampingly engaging the fabric to be displayed.

2. The fabric display device of claim 1 in combination with hanger means for suspending the device from a support.

3. The combination of claim 2 wherein said hanger means comprises reverse bend means for preventing accidental disengagement of said hanger means from the support.

4. The fabric display device of claim 1 including means for permanently imprinting any desired legend on one of said clamping plates.

5. The fabric display device of claim 1 further characterized in that it comprises means integral with one of said clamping plates for releasably afiixing thereto any desired fabric identification.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 511,944 Gordon Jan. 2, 1894 687,129 Davison Nov. 19 1901 840,168 Stevenson Jan. 1, 1907 1,401,099 Anderson Dec. 20, 1921 1,682,604 Disbraw Aug. 28, 1928 2,208,860 Smart July 23, 1940- 2,594,228 Smith Apr. 22, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 367,486 Germany Dec. 29, 1921 190,045 Great Britain Dec. 14, 1922 282,570 Switzerland Oct. 16, 1952 

